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Sheikh Al-Azhar’s remarks on polygamy draw wide debate
5-3-2019
The Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmad Tayeb, said on March 2nd that polygamy is “unjust for women” and is not founded in the Islamic religion. Tayeb who was speaking in an interview on the state-run TV, explained that polygamy requires fairness, and if there is no fairness, it is prohibited to have more than one wife. Justice, Tayeb maintained, is not subject to practice, in the sense that, a husband can take a second wife on condition they are treated equally, otherwise he will resort to divorce. This is not the issue. Just the fear of not commit to a fair treatment, is forbidden. Al Azhar comments sparked heated debate creating waves of both support and condemnation on social media. And while Egypt’s National Council for Women welcomed the influential cleric’s fair approach, a large number of traditional Sunni sheikhs in Egypt and the Arab Gulf countries demanded his resignation for allegedly misinterpreting the word of God as stated in the Quran. Subsequently, Tayeb on the next day issued a statement clarifying that he was not calling for a ban on polygamy, noting that his words were taken out of context and that he will never declare anything contrary to al Sunna (tradition of the prophet) or Quranic verses. On the subject, the executive director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, Mozn Hassan, called on the Egyptian government and parliament to reconsider the legislation regulating marriage and personal status matters in the North African country. These laws, she said, go back to 1920 and cannot be applied on our current times. (Al Diyar, March 3, 5, 2019)
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- العربية
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